No school should tolerate it. No bully should get away with it. No child should experience it. And yet we know it goes on day in and day out in our schools.

There were two sets of bullies in my class at secondary school. They terrorised their victims with threats and intimidation. They were ghastly girls and most of us, who were not the target, just kept clear. There was also bullying of the ‘exclusion’ variety – less obvious but just as diminishing for the victim who was left out of everything and made to feel ugly and unwanted.

Most schools now (unlike then) actually have bullying policies – and bullying is taken much more seriously now than then. But it’s still a problem we have to face up to and work against.

This week is anti-bullying week. To highlight this locally Haringey Youth Council are marching today: about 250 young people, ending the march at Spurs football ground with a series of events. It is fantastic to have a youth organisation taking this on and taking direct action on such an important issue. Congratulations to them.

Bullying damages lives – it isn’t just about harming a child’s schoolwork. Whenever I listen to programs on bullying (sometimes the subject of a phone in on the radio) and I hear adults – sometimes in their sixties or seventies – talking about having been bullied at school, what strikes me is that the hurt has never really gone. They often cry as they talk about those long ago experiences. Those are the psychological hurts that can and do blight entire lives.

Bullying often has a focus such as race or gender – and then displays itself as racial prejudice or sexual harassment. Homophobic bullying is more common than many people imagine. As www.standuptobullying.org (a Liberal Democrat website about homophobic bullying) recounts:

A 14-year old girl, after disclosing to a friend she might be a lesbian, was forced by the PE teacher to sit outside the changing rooms before and after sports lessons until the "normal" children have changed.

A boy who came out when he was 12 was persecuted at school as a consequence. He had a camp way of speaking and walking, which the other children didn’t like. "People would put up signs saying I had Aids, that I was a dirty, HIV faggot and not to go near me. I was punched and kicked."

So – we all need to be active and alive to these issues, whether as parents, teachers, classmates or politicians. There are some key measures that need to be taken. All schools should be required to keep a record of each bullying incident to create a reliable database to make it easier to tackle the problem. Peer bullying mentors in each school seem to be effective too and the Government needs to do urgent and comprehensive research to quantify the occurrence and trends in bullying and the effectiveness of different anti-bullying strategies. Why? Because the Government has thrown good money after bad on bullying because without these records and research no-one really knows what works and what doesn’t. If we had the information, action could be more effective.

And we need to look at the bully too. Bullying happens to disguise flaws in the bully – so they need their anger, low-self esteem and behaviour tackled too. Low self-esteem is a key factor, highlighted in all studies of bullying.

Finally – parents have a key role If your child has been bullied – and if they have had the courage to tell you about it (as some are too ashamed to tell) – then take action. And if you don’t get the response or action you think appropriate – then take it further. There are organisations out there to support you and your child. We adults all have to act together to stop the tears and the terror that bullying brings.

I doubt we can ever end bullying completely, but we can – and must – work harder to reduce the numbers of kids who have their schooldays scarred by bullying.

(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2007

Before this issue was brought to my attention by a constituent, I was, as I’m sure most people were, blissfully unaware of the horrific fate befalling Iraqis who had been employed by the British Forces.

For example, many Iraqis employed by the British are tortured when found by the Iraqi death-squads. Like Haidr al-Mtury, a translator for the British, who had holes drilled into his hands and knees before both legs were broken and acid was poured over his face. Only then did a bullet to the head put an end to his suffering. These Iraqis are people whose intelligence and work the British Forces lives have been dependant upon. Yet the fact is that the British government is treating these people as if they are applying for means tested benefit – not like people who are fleeing for their lives.

The British treatment of Iraqi employees stands in stark contrast to the employees of the Danes. When the Danish government pulled their troops out of Iraq at the beginning of August, they foresaw the perils facing their staff and immediately acted, chartering a flight that took all 60 of their Iraqi staff, and their families, straight to Copenhagen and a new life without fear.

Unfortunately, our government has adopted a rather more pedestrian approach. Since The Times newspaper and the blogosphere first brought this issue into prominence in early August the government has amazed us all with their impotence and incompetence. Eventually, a two-month review into the situation was commissioned by Gordon Brown, which must have been a great comfort to the Iraqi employees staring death in the face every time they walked a Basra street.

Eventually, on October 30th David Miliband issued a statement clarifying the situation. Iraqi employees could come and start a great new life in Britain, and all they’d have to fear was our nanny state. So that was problem solved wasn’t it?

The deafening silence from the media and Conservative Party would suggest so, but as so often is the case, the devil was very much in the detail. Even though Mr Miliband was kind enough to acknowledge the blatantly obvious truth that: "we owe our Iraqi staff an enormous debt of gratitude", he still felt that it was important that rigorous criteria were applied in order that the plan was "practical, realistic and preserves the integrity of wider immigration and asylum policy."

Thus, an eligibility criterion of 12 months continuous service has been put in place to make sure the numbers are kept down. This is frankly absurd, from both a moral and a practical standpoint. Firstly, clearly our debt of duty is owed to all whose lives have been put at risk by working for us: the death squads in Iraq don’t stop to ask how long interpreters have been employed, so why should we. This isn’t means tested benefits they’re applying for; it is escape from near-certain death.

Secondly, there is a clear practical impediment to setting the bar at 12 months service. Army tours typically last six months and so that is also the length of employment for most interpreters. Whilst some then take up positions either with other units, government departments or US Forces, collation and record-keeping have been inexcusably poor, in some cases non-existent, and so at-risk employees struggle to prove their eligibility.

Furthermore, employees who worked for the British in the two years prior to 2005 also find themselves with no right to asylum; abandoned to their fates and very much at risk.

The Liberal Democrats are leading the fight to force the government to rethink their policies on Iraqi employees. This is a matter for moral not political consideration. We must grant asylum to anyone who worked for the British and now faces mortal danger. Assessment of risk; not length, or time of service must be the only criteria.

The government’s protracted review has brought us a remarkably poorly thought out policy that is practically unsustainable and morally unforgivable. The death squads won’t wait and neither should we; the government must act immediately or it will have the blood of Iraqi employees on its hands.

Sign our Iraqi interpreters petition here

This article first appeared in Liberal Democrat News. For subscription details, click here.

(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2007